Framing the Past
by DevotedDreamer
Summary: In the weeks following their battle against Satan, Rin and Yukio's lives have finally begun to return to normal, that is until they are visited by a Vatican official who offers them a chance to visit their mother's childhood home and uncover the mysteries of their mother's life. Post-anime!
1. Chapter 1

It had only been two weeks since the Okumuras' battle with Satan. So much had changed in the days leading up to their showdown with the King of Gehenna and things seemed to have changed back to normal just as quickly. Classes had started back up at True Cross, Mephisto was the headmaster again, Yukio was bumped back down to Exorcist First Class and resumed his teaching position at True Cross, and the balance between the worlds of Assiah and Gehenna finally seemed to be going back normal. Well…as normal as could be expected at the academy.

Today's lesson in Yukio's exorcism class was learning how to create a devil's trap to restrain demons after they've possessed a person's body, which had gone…alright…until Mr. Instructor Extraordinaire wanted them to practice drawing them on the chalkboard.

Bon, in typical fashion, teased Rin's best efforts. "Heh, looks something a first grader would draw. Geez, you'd think the son of Satan could do better than THAT!" he smirked, gloating over his own perfect looking trap.

Naturally, Rin couldn't let _that_ pass, "It doesn't matter what it looks like as long as it works, asshole!" the teen growled, snapping the poor piece of chalk in half. "You think a demon's just gonna sit there and wait patiently while you try to draw the 'perfect trap'?! Get real!"

Before a proper pissing contest could escalate between the two, Yukio got between them and told them if they didn't shut up, they were both getting zeros for the day. Then Rin and Bon began to argue about whose fault it was until Yukio told them to return to their seats and they grumbled back and forth all the way back to their desks then continued whispers insults to each other for the remainder of the lesson. Yukio looked like he was trying his best to resist strangling the both of them.

Maybe it was what they had gone through as a class, or the shock of everything being so normal, or maybe just the sound of Shiemi and Konakomaru chuckling fondly in the background, but before too long all of them were doubled over their desks, laughing hard enough to bring Shima to tears. It was a relieving sound, like the unwinding of a taut wire. It was the sound of people basking in regular life…precious…demon free regular life.

Since it was apparent that none of them were concentrating on the lesson anymore, Yukio decided to let them go early, but assignment an extra chapter of their weekend reading to make up for lost time, which no one but Rin seemed to mind. Now, the twins were headed back to their private dorms.

Despite the secret of Rin and Yukio's heritage being more or less out in the open, neither Mephisto nor the other professors demanded that they be completely integrated into the rest of the student body. Yukio claimed it was because they would still be considered targets if Satan's followers ever tried to cross the gates of Gehenna again and the school officals didn't want to put the "normal" students at True Cross at a greater risk. Rin liked to think of it was their reward for saving the world. Leaving the brothers be seemed to be the closest thing they'd get to a "thank you" around here. Either way, they were alone, and that suited them fine for now.

"So what'cha want for dinner tonight?" Rin asked, tail gently swaying back and forth as they strolled the grounds, holding his bag up behind his head. The sun was shining today, and there was a light breeze. Despite the few boarded up windows and beat up looking light posts, the school grounds certainly didn't look like they were flooded with demons less than a month ago. The same easy slump of his shoulders and cheeky smirk flashed over towards Yukio, who was staring off into space.

"Ukobach's getting antsy to make stewed leaks…again, if we don't actually pick somethi-"

"Rin…"

Yukio's soft voice, subdued and beaten, cut him off. Rin turned to look and wished he hadn't. The look on his face was the OTHER reason Rin was grateful for their privacy. There were a lot of things left unsaid after the Gehenna Gate incident. It was hard enough getting his soft-spoken brother to open up about anything before, now it was like talking to a brick wall. A brick wall afraid of its own shadow…things were complicated.

Yukio looked ready to stir the pot, but an official sounding voice cut it off before it could begin.

"Exorcist First Class Yukio Okumara?" It belonged to a middle aged man in a long black trench coat. He had sunglasses and the stone faced demeanor of a Vatican official. Rin frowned, subconsciously stepping in front of Yukio's mildly surprised face. They had been exonerated of their alleged transgressions against the church after saving the freakin' world, but Rin felt his hackles rising all the same. They had _also_ been promised some recoup time. If they were planning on sending Yukio out on an assignment already, they had another thing coming!

He glared sullenly at the guy, tail swinging ferociously. "Yeah? Who's askin'?!"

For a split second, the officer's shoulders rose in recoil. Fear… Both boys felt a stab of pain in their hearts. Their secret was out, but it was still hard to swallow when some people treated them like monsters…treated them BOTH like monsters. Yukio rolled his eyes and pulled himself around front with a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Rin, knock it off."

He turned back to the officer and saluted, "I'm Yukio Okumera, sir."

The man straightened again and returned it.

"I've been assigned to deliver this to you and Exwire Rin Okumera." He reached into his jacket and rummaged around for a small white envelope. Rin's tail perked up in curiosity, his mistrust very slowly fading.

"Huh? Me too?"

The officer ignored him and held the envelope out to Yukio, who stared at it in confusion for a moment. He slowly started to reach for it.

"Inside is a key to Ernest Egan's estate."

"What?!" Yukio took a step back and bumped into Rin, who was peering over his shoulder. Both brothers stared at the envelope in equal part surprise and disgust.

Yukio's shoulder's shook with a quiet rage. "What do you think we want with that bastard's estate?!"

Rin glanced over in shock. Outbursts like that from his twin didn't happen very often….

The officer seemed equally taken aback, but did not withdraw the hand holding the envelope.

"Mr. Egan's passing has left the church with a considerable estate containing large amounts of property. Due to the….." he looked between them, "….questionable circumstances surrounding his final days, the Vatican does not wish to maintain the property left behind. As his only living kin, the laws of the church dictates that you two be allowed first denial of any of his personal effects, should you choose to take -"

"We refuse." Yukio marched past him, making his way towards the dormitory, leaving the other two behind in stunned silence. Rin stared at his back in confusion, then turned to frown at the envelope in the officer's hand and snatched it away quickly.

"I'll take it then!"

The officer took a better look at Rin's lashing tail and almost instinctually wiped his hand on his jacket in disgust, but seemed to catch himself. He coughed and frowned back indignantly at the two demon brother's rudeness.

"You will have access to Egan's estate until Sunday. Any property left inside will fall into the possession of the church and be…disposed of. Also, the Vatican wishes to remind you that any items deemed unsafe will be required to-"

"Yeah, yeah! Sunday, got it!" Rin was already running off after Yukio, ignoring the last part of the officer's tirade.

The man groaned and wiped a hand over his sunglasses, turning the opposite way out of sight.

"Damn demon brats…"

It didn't take more than a minute for Rin to catch up to his twin, who was completely, and purposely, ignoring his shouts to stop.

"Yukio! Hey quit running away and talk to me!"

Nothing. If anything, the boy started walking faster. If there was one thing that pissed Rin off, it was being ignored by his own brother.

Sprinting the last few steps, he put both hands on Yukio's shoulders and spun him into the wall of a storage shed near their dorm. The twins' eyes met, but instead of the blank stare he'd been expecting, his brother's face was twisted into a furious glare.

"What were you thinking, Rin?!" It wasn't a shove, just a whip of his arms to dislodge Rin's.

Disbelief, and now anger, flashed over his face, right before Rin threw his hands up in exasperation.

"What the heck are you talk-"

Yukio was inches away from his face, yelling and frantic and more upset than he'd remembered seeing him in a long time…not since Dad died.

"What on Earth could you possibly hope to gain by going there?! As far as I'm concerned that bastard isn't even our grandfather!"

Rin just sighed and tried to play it off with a carefree shrug of his shoulder, disconcerted with this unusual agitation from Yukio.

"Yeah, well, he may not be our family, but Yuri _was_ our mother! Don't you want to see the place she grew up? Aren't you even a little bit curious?"

That got a pause, Rin started to smile, hoping it was working.

"Come on, you're telling me in that whole giant ass house there's _nothing_ of hers left behind? We _have to_ check it out!"

Yukio turned away from his brother, wrapping his arms around his stomach.

"I can't go in there…knowing what he did to her...what he almost did to you!" _What I almost did to_ _you_ ….

Rin growled and grabbed his brother by the collar, "Ya know, I'm getting sick of you treating me like I'm made of glass or something! What happened to the guy that used to mess with me and get mad and give me crap when I fall asleep in class? Did he fall into the gate with Satan?"

"Watch it, Rin…" Yukio muttered, grabbing his brother's wrists.

"No! When are you gonna snap out of this funk? When am I going to get my brother back?!"

"Rin, enough!"

"What's wrong with you?! Are you gonna try to deny your human half now that you've realized your part demon?! Well I got news for you **,** idiot!" He paused again…staring into his twin's frantic eyes… "If you try to reject either half of yourself….You'll end up losing everything you are!"

Yukio knew his brother's words were true, which only made them sting that much more. Without thinking, he took a swing at Rin.

Rin caught his wrist. Yukio tried his other hand and Rin caught that one too. Yukio tried to wiggle out of his brother's grip, but Rin held his wrist firmly and gingerly lowered them to his side.

"You think _you're_ the only one at fault here?!" Rin sputtered. "We both made mistakes, but there's no taking it back! All we can do now is find a way to live with it and move on."

"How can you ask me to just _move on_?!" Yukio shouted, tears of anger burning at the corners of his eyes. "Ever since we were kids, all I wanted to do was protect you. I promised Dad I would keep you safe. But in the end, I failed. Because of me…" he bit his lip, fighting back tears. "BECAUSE OF ME YOU ALMOST DIED RIN! I ALMOST KILLED YOU!" he screamed in anguish and grabbed his bother by the shoulders, gripping him tight. "That's why…that's why I can't go there, Rin. It would just be another reminder that I failed you. You _and_ Dad." Yukio dropped his head and his voice softened to almost a whisper, "I was so desperate to have a normal family, I nearly lost the only family I have left."

Rin gently removed his brother's hands from his shoulders and bent his head to meet his brother's gaze. "You idiot. You think you were the only one taken in by that bastard's lies? He fooled everyone, and in case you didn't notice, we both made it out just fine. Sure, our life may not be perfect. This world is all kinds of messed up and we may not have found our place in it. But…" he smirked. "I don't know about you, but our friends…and Dad…they were worth all the hell this world's put us through."

Rin voice suddenly rose in ferocity, "And Mom died to bring us into this world, dammit! So I think the least we could do is try to learn a little more about her. Now, I'm going tomorrow. If you don't want to come along then fine, but don't you dare try to stop me! You got that?!"

Two tears fell, but Yukio still nodded and watched his brother walk inside. The twins spent the rest of the evening in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Rin woke up just after 10:00 the Saturday morning. He rolled out of bed and he looked over at his brother's empty bed. "Damn Yukio, probably spent all night on the couch moping," he muttered to himself. "Ah well, who needs him…" He threw on a hoodie and jeans then went downstairs and gobbled up the miso soup and rice Ukobach had made for breakfast. The little demon was scrubbing pots down in the sink, humming happily to himself.

"Thanks for breakfast Ukobach. I'll be back later tonight to help you with dinner," Rin said as he placed his empty dishes on the counter and waved good-bye to his demon companion.

On a tiny breath of hope, he peeped around the halls and extra rooms of their dorm. Yukio, however…was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, disheartened, then snagged his backpack and headed out the door. He was only a block away from the dorms when he felt someone following him. He turned around to see Yukio trailing several yards behind him.

Rin sighed, smiling to himself. _That Yukio…_ "Hey, you comin' or what?!"

Yukio looked stunned; he didn't count on his brother being so observant. He thought he'd be able to tail him for a little longer before he was noticed. He didn't say and anything however, and instead ran ahead to catch up with his twin. After leaving the academy grounds, they followed the directions written on the sheet of paper the official had given them along with the keys and took a train to the district where their grandfather's house was and walked from there. Fortunately the house was just a short walk from the station and the directions made it relatively easy to find.

It was a fairly large, two story European style house with thick stone walls and had a pointed rooftop with very few windows. The dwellng was protected by an iron gate that surrounded the grounds of the property. It certainly wasn't the most inviting house they'd ever seen. Large, cold, intimidating- it suited the old man perfectly.

Rin unlocked the gate and strolled up to the house with his hands shoved in his pockets, trying to play off the enormity of the situation. He unlocked the front door and looked back at Yukio who was still standing at the gate, staring up at the house. "What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

Yukio gave him the same annoyed glare he often used in class when Rin was daydreaming or dozing off during class, but followed him in anyway.

"Whoa, what is that stink?!" Rin groaned, waving his hand in front of his nose. The air in the foyer smelled like incense, mothballs, and old paper. _Did all he people houses smell like this?_

The brother's jaws nearly dropped to the ground when they stepped into the living room. It was decorated in what Rin could only describe as "grandma chic-" the floors and much of the interior was made of a dark wood, the upholstery of the couches and armchairs were shades of beige and gold with ornate flower patterns stitched in, and worst of all was the vintage flowery wallpaper. It was as if all the old ladies of the world had gotten together to do the interior design for this house. It was much different than the vibe the twins got when they were standing outside of the house.

"Oh man…this place just _reeks_ of old people..." Rin muttered as he walked further into the living room.

"Rin…"

"What? They have doilies on their coffee tables! Who does that anymore?!"

Yukio rolled his eyes, trying not to pay any mind to his brother's flippant remarks.

Rin wandered over the fireplace which was adorned with religious relics as well as a collection of worn porcelain animals and children with vapid eyes and unnerving smiles sitting on the mantelpiece.

"Man…creepy much?"he joked, picking up a porcelain figure of 2 chubby children standing under an umbrella and began tossing it around in his hand. His twin didn't respond, picking up an old leather-bound book from one of the end tables. He started to flip through it, looking like he was lost in his own little world. Rin huffed, hating when his brother ignored him like this. Suddenly a ferocious grin crossed his face as he stared down at the statues. "Heeey Yukiooo~" he sang in a high pitched voice, dancing the figurines in front of his face. "Do you want to be our special friend?"

Without missing a beat, Yukio pulled his gun from its holster and aimed it right for the chubby porcelain children. "No don't hurt them!" Rin shouted, shielding the delicate figure from his brother's wrath.

"Geez, can't you take a joke," he muttered, placing the figurine back on the mantel. He scanned the room again, but couldn't find anything worth investigating. At least…nothing he felt the need to comb over the Geriatric Museum for.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna take a look upstairs for a while." _Maybe they'll be some cool weapons or something up there. Man, you'd think with being such a high ranking exorcist he'd have more interesting stuff around here…_

It was odd, now that he thought about it. Shiro always kept a large assortment of religious artifacts strewn about their house. Wards and charms around doors and ornaments on the shelves relating to his former position as the paladin. He never expected this place to look so…normal.

The first room Rin stumbled across seemed to be a guest bedroom that made budget hotel rooms seem homey. The walls, carpeting, and bedspread were all white and the only pictures of the wall were paintings of Jesus and Mary, which gave Rin a bit of an unnerving feeling, like the two of them would be watching him while he slept. A queen sized bed stood in the middle of the room with a nightstand and lamp on the left side and a wooden dresser on the opposite side of the room. Rin took a look around, pulling open the drawers and looking in the closet, but couldn't find anything more than spare sheets and blankets and a vacuum cleaner. There didn't seem to be anything else to see here so he moved onto the next room.

This one was significantly larger, consisting of a king size four poster bed, a dresser and a vanity on opposite walls, and a floor to ceiling bookcase overlooking a desk on the final wall. It seemed…off though. Rin noticed that the décor seemed to be split right down the middle. One side seemed to be decorated in the same old-lady theme as the lower floor. The dresser on one wall was a pale yellow cream color with a mirror and several of the sort of figurines as downstairs. The other was a dark mahogany finish and had an overdose of crosses and religious figures in framed pictures on stands and on the walls. Even the titles on the bookshelf were the same sort of polar opposites. Plato and Mark Twain, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Shakespeare…like two completely different people existed in this space.

The only things in the room that spoke personally of the owners of the house were two framed portraits side by side on the desk. One was clearly a younger Egan, harsh suit and intimidating stare minus his odd mask…the other though was a gently smiling older woman with greying hair and peaceful gloss to her eyes.

 _Is that…our grandmother?_ he wondered, studying the photograph.

Rin's eyes drifted over the bookshelves, looking for any books that might be of interest to him, but nothing really caught his eye. Yukio might find something worth salvaging here, but books didn't really do anything for Rin. He preferred to learn by experience.

He then began rummaging through the chest of drawers. Most of it was just clothes and underwear (which Rin tried his best to avoid touching) with some odd and ends thrown in. He was beginning to give up hope of finding anything remotely interesting in this room when he felt something soft and leathery buried beneath a pair of pajamas, then pulled out a brown leather photo album from the bottom of the drawer. _Jackpot!_

It was stiff, like it hadn't been opened it several years, and the pages had yellowed with age. His eyes grew wide as he opened the book, heart thumping in anticipation. The first picture was of a young couple holding hands on a park bench, faded coloring of that era's photography making the whole glow a soothing sunset orange.

 _Wow…grandma was beautiful,_ he thought to himself. The young 20-something was wearing a cream colored dress with her long, chocolate brown hair in a loose braid and wore glasses over her bright blue eyes. Apart from the glasses and slight age difference, she was nearly identical to her daughter.

His grandfather looked much different as well, so much younger and happier. His hair seemed to be almost as long and shaggy as the day Rin first met him, but instead of being dull and white, his hair was a light chestnut brown and he wore a smile nearly as bright as his beloved's.

There were several more pictures of the two of them as a young couple, as well as photos from their wedding, birthdays, holidays, exorcist ceremonies, their first home, and their travels to Europe and America. Rin couldn't help but smile a bit when he saw the pictures. It was oddly comforting to see that his grandfather wasn't always the spiteful old man Rin remembered. The man who tried to sacrifice his own grandchildren and put the human world in mortal danger for some wild idea to destroy Gehenna.

The next set of photos contained a picture of his grandmother with her hand over the large bulge in her stomach and standing in what had to be a nursery. It was a fairly small room with yellow walls and an array of stuffed animals that carefully lined the shelves with and a crib standing in the middle of the room and a giant teddy bear in the corner. Rin smiled wide, eager to see pictures of his mother as a baby. He wondered if she looked anything like he did when he was younger. But when he turned the page, he cocked his head to one side and frowned…confused.

It was blank…

"Huh…"

Disappointed, he turned the next page- nothing. He turned another page, and another.

"What the hell?! Why are all the pages are blank?"

His heartbeat quickened as her turned each page, wondering where all the pictures could have gone.

It couldn't be the end of the book. It was less than halfway full and he could see the faint translucent lines along the inner part of the protective photo covers where photos must have been kept before. Rin swallowed hard, a large lump was beginning to form in his throat.

 _No…he wouldn't have gotten rid of them…would he?_

It was only when he turned the next page that his worst fears had been confirmed- all the photos of his mother were gone! He stared at a close up picture of his grandmother smiling wide, holding what must've been her darling daughter. Only now, the photo was torn in half, leaving only his grandmother reaching into oblivion to hold whatever…or whoever their grandfather had tried to erase from memory.

Rin pulled the picture from its protective cover, rubbing the frayed end on the right side, as if it could provide some kind of trace for the other half of the picture.

Part of him knew he shouldn't be so surprised, this was the same man who sentenced his own daughter to be burned at the stake. But even so she was his _daughter_. How could he just cast aside all his feelings for her? Didn't he have a shred of love for the little girl she used to be?

He began flipping through the pages, faster and more furiously than ever, scanning the pages for any trace of his mother. But all that remained were scraps of the cheerful family photos that used to line the pages. The final page only contained a single photograph of his grandfather at some kind of promotional ceremony at the Vatican. He violently shut the album and threw it across the room.

He felt himself brimming with anger. All those memories of what that monster had done came flooding back to him and that anger quickly turned into hatred. He hated him for shutting out his own daughter, just because she didn't grow up to be his little puppet. He hated him for convicting her as a witch then attempting to burn her at the stake. For manipulating his brother to open the gates of Gehenna. For nearly killing them both in the process **.** For not only attempting to murder his own daughter, but also try to erase every trace of her from existence, as if she'd never even been born. People had been calling Rin a demon ever since he could remember, but that… _that_ …was truly demonic. How could someone be so cruel to their own daughter? He was her _father_. He should've been the one person who would always be there to protect her, yet he's the one who ultimately caused her demise.

Rin couldn't imagine how awful she must have felt living under his control all those years and how it must have killed her inside to have her own father carry out her death sentence. Rin couldn't imagine going through something like that, feeling completely alone in the world. He may not have had many friends growing up and even most adults seemed afraid of him, but even so, his father and brother were always there for him. Their love was one of the few things in this world that Rin could count on. His mother wasn't so lucky. Now he understood how Yukio had felt yesterday…and the stab of regret for dragging himself up here was more painful that most of the blows he'd taken in combat over the past year. He hugged his knees and tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Rin! Rin, where are you?" he heard his brother calling out to him as he ascended the stairs. Rin quickly wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his hoodie and grabbed a book from the bookshelf, pretending to read it and turning his back to the door.

"There you are!" his brother smiled as he entered the room with an armful of books. "You were right. I _did_ actually find some good stuff down there. I found a few books on exorcism that might be useful. If I like them well enough, I may assign a couple readings from these for class," he said, showing off the covers of the books then setting them down on the dresser. "Oh and I even found a couple large pots and a set of knives in the kitchen downstairs. You've been saying that we needed sharper kitchen knives and since we're on a budget, I thought…" Yukio trailed off. "Hey, what's wrong?" Yukio asked, noticing his brother still hadn't turned around or taken his eyes off the book since he entered.

"Oh, i-it's nothing!" Rin said hastily, placing the book on the shelf and turning to face his brother. "Just reading this really sad story."

Yukio looked skeptical then walked over to the bookshelf to see which book had supposedly moved his brother to tears, " _101 Anti-Demon Herbs and Where to Find Them?"_ he read the title aloud and raised an eyebrow to Rin.

"Uh yeah," Rin grinned sheepishly. "It's just…I was really hoping to use some of those herbs in my recipes sometime. I just hate that I'll never have the chance to use the now, ya know…" His brother didn't respond.

"So we done here? I'm starving! What do you say to some curry rice for lunch today?" He started walking towards the doorway but Yukio caught his wrist.

"You know…ever since we were kids…you've always been a terrible liar," Yukio murmured.

"What?! I am not!" Rin scoffed, jerking his wrist from his brother's grasp.

Yukio gave a faint smile but remained firmly in place. **"** Do you remember when we were six and you got into a fight with that middle schooler who was teasing me about my moles? You messed him up pretty bad. And when Dad asked why your knuckles were all bruised and bloody you said it was because you were trying to squish a big spider, but it kept moving every time you swung at it. Or that time in third grade when you snuck into the classroom while the rest of us went outside for gym class and ate the snacks our teacher kept stashed in her desk drawer. You claimed you had nothing to do with it with cookie crumbs all over your mouth," his younger brother chuckled.

"Shut up," Rin murmured. "Not like you were any better. Every time I tried to get you to lie to Dad, you could barely get two words out before bursting into tears and apologizing over and over."

Another moment of silence passed between them.

"So are you going to tell me what's _really_ bothering you?"

"I told you it's nothing. This place…it just reminds me too much of Mom… You were right. Coming here was a waste of time. Let's just go," Rin said quietly, walking past Yukio and leaving the room.

His twin paused, doing a once over the bedroom, trying to figure out what in the room had set Rin off. His gaze swept over the desk, then he noticed the pictures of their grandparents sitting there. They had to leave with something. Yukio walked down the hall after his brother with the woman's picture gently tucked under his arm.

"Rin, wait up! Why won't you just tell me what happened?!"

His twin's tail lashed back and forth in agitation, but he paused and seemed to look down at something in his hand before spinning on Yukio and moving to lean against the wall.

"I told you it was nothing, okay? No need to get all weir-agh!"

The wall, which had looked perfectly solid a moment ago, shimmered and vanished under Rin's shoulders, allowing him to bonk his head against a battered door jam a second later.

"Ow! Geez, what the hell?!" He muttered to himself, clutching his ear and temple in one hand.

"That's a cloaking ward you broke..." Yukio whispered, coming up slowly to look at the door more closely. "They're supposed to keep rooms invisible…But why would our grandparents want to hide this room in the first place? It's like this never existed."

Rin peered up from his crouch on the floor….and the images of the torn photos and half empty album came flooding into his head. He never did run across any rooms but guest rooms up here.

"Like it never existed huh?" Slowly…he stood up and placed a hand on Yukio's shoulder, reaching for the door handle.

"Yuki….I think this might be mom's bedroom."

A/N: Just one more chapter left to go. I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. It means a lot to know people are enjoying this story and gives me encouragement to continue writing. And an extra special thanks to my best friend, editor, and #1 supporter, Paige who is always there to help me whenever I get stuck. Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Rin grasped the doorknob then looked back at his brother for reassurance. Yukio nodded for him to go on, so he gingerly turned the knob and opened the door. Their eyes grew wide when they gazed into the room and let out a long breath they didn't realize they'd been holding.

It felt like they had stepped back in time. Back to when their mother was just a normal high school student trying to find her place in the world, just like her sons.

The room didn't look anything like the rest of the house. There were no religious relics or creepy kinckknacks in sight- it simply looked like the room of a normal teenage girl. Posters of music idols and television characters lined the cream colored walls and the bookshelf was filled with books, dolls, and a few mementos. A dresser with a large vanity mirror stood on the far side of the room with a few keepsakes and photos sitting on the top. A queen sized bed and canopy stood in the middle of the room and was fashioned with a cream and turquoise bedspread with a stuffed black and white cat resting on the pillow. The curtains were a lighter shade of blue and were lined with lace, which lavishness made it stand out against the rest of the room. They guessed her mother must have picked those out for Yuri when she was younger and just never bothered to change them.

The younger Okumura moved slowly into the bedroom, eyes and head moving all around the room, trying to take as much in as he could.

Rin remained frozen in place, unable to find the strength to move further into the room. "So, do you think this is really the room our mother grew up in?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

"It has to be…" Yukio murmured softy. "As far as I know, our mother was an only child. Besides, I doubt anyone from Vatican headquarters would have allowed us here if there were any _other_ living heirs."

A photo perched on the shelf caught his eye and he let out a short gasp, "Rin, come look at this!" 

His brother exhaled deeply then slowly moved towards the other end of the room. His legs felt like jelly beneath him and his heart was beating so hard, he could feel it in his throat.

Their mother had been a complete mystery to the brothers their entire lives so when Rin learned that they might finally have an opportunity to learn something about her, he couldn't have been happier. But his heart was so full of bitterness and disgust after what he'd seen in his grandfather's room,all he wanted to do was run back to their dorm and never turn back.

The brothers' relationship with Shiro, who wasn't even their blood, was as warm and welcoming as you'd expect any normal family to be. For their grandfather to do all he had done to cut ties and destroy what little family he had left just seemed wrong on so many levels.

"What is it?" Rin asked when he reached his brother then looked over to see what he was holding and found three beaming faces looking back at him. His grandfather had one arm wrapped around his wife and his other was holding his infant daughter, who was grinning widely and waving to the camera. Yuri couldn't have been much older than 4 or 5 years old when this picture was taken. _They looked so happy._ Rin thought. _What could have happened to change things so much?_

Rin let out a soft laugh, "Heh, Mom was even cuter than we were as kids. I wonder if she was half the trouble," he teased, elbowing his younger brother. Yukio rolled his eyes, but smiled fondly at the picture. "We should definitely take this one back with us." Rin added as he lifted the picture from Yukio's hand and gently placed it into his backpack.

Yukio continued scanning the bookshelf while Rin moved on to the dresser and began rummaging through the drawers. As luck would have it, the first drawer he pulled out was Yuri's underwear drawer. He shrieked in surprise and frantically slammed it shut, nearly knocking down all the picture frames and trinkets in the process.

"What happened?!" Yukio shouted, moving towards his brother with concern.

"N-nothing! I…uh…saw a spider," Rin stammered, a deep blush forming on his face.

Yukio raised an eyebrow, "A spider?"

"Yeah, what's it to ya?! It just caught me by surprise, that's all."

The younger Okumura still looked skeptical, but didn't bother questioning him further and turned his attention back to the bookshelf. It contained several volumes of manga, a few fantasy and fairy tale novels, and half a dozen of books on demonology. He noticed there was one book on the bottom shelf that was particularly thick and didn't have a title. He slowly pulled it out of its niche and discovered it was a photo album.

Meanwhile, his big brother had finally worked up the courage to open another drawer. He cautiously pulled it open, inch-by-inch, then violently slammed it shut when his brother called him over.

"What is it this time?" He asked defensively, still shifty from his earlier discovery.

"Just get over here," Yukio ordered. His older brother groaned in reply, figuring he was going to show him another book on demonology or exorcism. But when he saw the size of the book and the word _Memories_ inscribed on the cover, he knew it could only mean one thing.

"Another one?" Rin murmured.

"What?"

Rin paused for a second, considering telling his younger brother about his previous discovery then decided against it. "Never mind. Just…open it already."

Yukio glared at him for a moment then gently opened the album. The brothers' eyes widen and mouths hung agape as they gazed at the first set of photographs.

The first was of Yuri at what seemed to be her first day of elementary school, judging by the classroom and other schoolchildren milling around in the background. She was so small, her backpack was almost as big as she was. She looked so much like Rin did on his first day- all smiles and eyes full of enthusiasm **.** Shiro kept a similar picture of his boys on the mantle of their family home. However the younger Okurmura didn't looked quite as enthusiastic as his big brother. He could only manage a faint smile through eyefuls of nervous tears. It had taken Rin and Shiro nearly all morning to convince Yukio that the kids at the school were going to be their friends and the hulking teacher wasn't as scary as she looked.

The next couple pages contained photographs of Yuri dancing onstage at a ballet recital. She had grown a bit taller since the last few photos they'd seen her in, but she was still smaller than most of the other girls. She wore a light pink leotard and had her done up in a tight dancer's bun. Despite her age, the pictures showed a girl dedicated to form and full of graceful passion for the art. It was ethereal; she looked like an angel.

Further on was a single photograph of Yuri showing off a hand drawn picture herself and her parents holding hands. It wasn't anything remarkable; to any other person it looked like just another child's doodle, but she looked so proud of her artwork, you'd think she just earned first place in the art fair. Yukio may have inherited her hair and eye color, but she looked just like Rin when she smiled.

They turned the next page and found a photo of her, roughly a year later, dressed up as a devil for Halloween. She held a devil's pitchfork in one hand and reached out to the camera with the other, her fingertips slightly bent like claws, smiling mischievously at the camera. The brothers couldn't help but let out a short chuckle at that. They couldn't decide which was stranger- the irony of that she chose to dress up as the devil for Halloween or that her father actually allowed her to wear it.

The next collection of photographs were of Yuri at Christmastime that same year. The first was of her making cut-out Christmas cookies with her mother. The young girl was covered in flour from head to toe, as was much of the kitchen. Her mother had an exhausted smile on her face, like she'd given up trying to contain the mess. This led into Yuri standing in front of the Christmas tree in a beautiful dark red dress, probably on her way to Christmas Eve mass.The next couple pages included photos of her and her folks opening presents on Christmas morning.She had gotten a large assortment of toys, dolls, and books, but her favorite seemed to be a junior chemistry set. She held it tight against her body, like a treasured stuffed animal, and grinned gleefully.

"Heh, looks like Mom was a nerd just like you, Yukio," Rin teased.

Then with the flip of a page, that year of Yuri's life came to a close and another began. Snapshots from Yuri's youth had come together to form a storybook of her life. Everything from sports to sleepovers, conferences to confirmation- they watched their mother grow. As they flipped pictures of a cheerful, hyperactive child were replaced ones of a bright and lively young woman and family members were replaced by friends and classmates, yet one thing that remained the same was Yuri's good natured smile and warm eyes and the happy faces of everyone around her.

Although the album held less than 100 photos, they spent nearly an hour going through it. They lingered on every picture, trying to guess they story behind it and imagining what her childhood must have been **.** It was surreal, like they were looking at a completely different man than the grandfather they knew.The cherry on top though, was finally seeing their mother as a person and not just a far-off idea. Shiro had good reason to keep the truth about her life, and death, a secret, but to see her now, to see her as she had been…it was a breath of fresh air.

The twins did their best to piece together their mom's life with every photo they uncovered, but they still had so many questions that they would probably never know the answer to.

 _Was her childhood really as happy as it had seemed?_

 _Was she more like Rin or Yukio when she was younger?_

 _When did she start training to become an exorcist?_

 _What was her relationship with her parents like as she got older?_

 _And what exactly made her fall in love with Satan?_

"Hey Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think…Mom would hate us? For what happened at the gate?"

Rin frowned and stared down at the last picture. It was of her and two of her friends during a school festival. She had an arm wrapped around each of their necks, pulling them in for a warm embrace, smiling playfully and winking at the camera. It was hard to believe a girl who was so kindhearted and seemingly carefree could be an exorcist. They couldn't imagine her harming anyone- human or demon.

Rin pondered hard about the question his brother had just raised. Satan had made it very clear that the whole reason he had crossed Gehenna's gate was to create a world where demons and humans lived together. He had said that had been Yuri's dream. A dream she had paid the ultimate price for, but their father's methods had been unacceptable. Rin couldn't wrap his head around Yuri wanting to bring humans and demons together by drowning one with the other.

 _If you try to ignore either half, you'll lose yourself completely._

His own words to Yukio came rushing back, and all of a sudden he was chuckling to himself.

Yukio raised an eyebrow. "Did I say something funny?"

Shaking his head, Rin let his tail rise and allowed a small plume of blue flame to gently ignite above his forehead. An answering shimmer glowed over Yukio and the two brother's stood there basking in each other's presence. The warmth and acceptance was comforting.

"How could she hate us? We're living her dream right now, aren't we?"

Yukio blinked. "What do you..?"

"Come on, four eyes, think about it. Think about Kuro and Ukoboch, and what about Shiemi and Nii? Even Mephisto lives in Assiah and doesn't really cause too much trouble…"

Well…for the most part, that is.

"Since we've found out about Mom, we've been working towards living peacefully with demons all along. Do you really think she would sacrifice herself for us to grow up with Shiro just to hate us for all eternity in the great beyond? That doesn't make any sense."

The brothers combed the room for other mementos and clues about their mother's life, but couldn't find anything that could compare to the photo album. They decided to take the photo album and all the other photographs with them and come back tomorrow to collect some of her keepsakes and books. They didn't know how long the remnants of the protection spell on the room would last so they wanted to take what they could before it was auctioned off or thrown out.

They took one last room around the room, trying to reimagine what it was like growing up in this house engrave the image of their mother's room in their minds forever.Before they left, Yukio placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, stopping him in the doorway.

"You were right," Yukio muttered.

Rin cocked his head and gave his brother puzzled stare, "Huh?"

"You were right," Yukio repeated, a soft smile gracing by face, "This _was_ a good idea."

Rin stared at his brother for another moment then smiled wider than Yukio had seen in a long time and gave his little brother a spirited pat on the back.

"See, what'd I tell you. You're big brother knows what he's doing. You really _should_ listen to me more often."

"You're one to talk," Yukio scoffed. "You never follow orders or listen instructions on missions. You don't even pay attention during class or when I'm giving a homework assignment.

"Hey, I do my homework!" Rin defended.

"Only _after_ it's passed the due date, and that's usually because Bon or Shiemi helped you with it."

"Yeah, well, who cares as long as it gets done?! Besides, I learn from experience, not by listening to you or reading some dumb book."

"Well, maybe if you did pick up a book every once in a while, those experiences might be a little less painful."

"Hey, I read!"

"Manga doesn't count."

"It's still reading!" Rin defended.

"But you don't _learn_ anything from it, Rin. How do you expect to become Paladin if all you do is cook, sleep, and read manga? If you still want to surpass me, you have a long way to go."

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me ya four eyed, mole face?!"

The two brothers continued bickering nearly the entire way back to the dorms and after a hearty dinner of beef and curry rice Rin and Ukuobach whipped up, they decorated their empty walls with pictures of their mother and grandmother. Rin stuck the picture of Yuri during the school festival on his bedside table and Yukio put a photo of a slightly younger looking Yuri working in the garden and smiling brightly at the camera. Now they would be able to see her smiling face every morning when they woke up.

A/N: Well, there you have it- that's the end of my story! I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! I'm glad you enjoyed this story and am looking forward to writing more Blue Exorcist stories in the future.


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